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Re: Rhythm perception



John,
Intuitively, I would say that it's something we learn, = culture.
At the same time, as a practicing composer and percussionist, I think some of the most compelling examples are when we break the pattern for a while, leaving the listener with a choice (rhythmic illusions?). There are many examples in jazz and rock music where this effect is being used (although I'm too tired or lazy to list any particular right now). The first one that came to my mind is, I think, a Led Zeppelin, where half way into the theme, the beat is broken.
Also, as a composer, I have noticed that sometimes my scores initially appear to be quite difficult for musicians to play. In my most recent piece, TXTULTR, I decided to work in 5/4, allowing for phrases to carry over 3 bars. The bare computer/MIDI rendition sounded quite different to the real version, as the real musicians were trying to make musical sense of each phrase.
/Mikael